College students looking for a place to eat with a lot of history behind it don’t have to look far. The Ram and O’Hare’s, located in downtown Brookings, is just such a place.

“It was originally a bank; First National Bank,” said Tammy Young who, along with her husband Terry, has owned The Ram and O’Hare’s since April of 2005.

This bank was the site of a famous robbery by Ben and Stella Mae Dickson in the 1930s, after it had changed its name to Northwestern National Bank, said Tom Yseth, a previous owner of the Ram.

“They were public enemy number one, but not for long,” Yseth said. “I think they got around $15,000, which was a lot of money at the time. They were, of course, caught. Ben was killed. Stella lived, (but) she went to prison.”

This interesting history was something that Yseth embraced during his time running The Ram.

“We used to have robbery days and we would do a re-enactment,” Yseth said.

The building remained a bank until 1972, when the bank became Wells Fargo and moved to its current Brookings location, vacating the Ram building, said Yseth. It wasn’t until 1978 that Yseth purchased the building. By then, it had already been converted into a restaurant by a franchise company that had built Rams at many other locations as well.

“We had a lot of fun in 27 years,” Yseth said of his time at the Ram.

O’Hare’s, a bar located in the basement of the building, also has a long history.

“It used to be called the Sioux River Yacht Club. ? Kind of their gentleman’s club kind of a bar,” Young said. “Then they decided they wanted to tie in SDSU more with it and they had a contest to come up with a name, and that’s when they came up with O’Hare’s.”

The Ram and O’Hare’s also have a long history of hiring SDSU students.

“Probably 99 percent are SDSU students,” said Young.

Brady Mallory, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism, works there as a shift manager and bartender. “As someone who didn’t really know much about South Dakota before coming here for college, it’s nice to be a part of something that’s so steeped in history.” he said.

Mallory, whose previous jobs include working at Kmart and coaching t-ball, said he has enjoyed his first experience working at a restaurant. “Just the atmosphere is really nice,” he said. “I think the owners really treat the employees with respect.”

Even students who aren’t aware of the history of the Ram still enjoy going there. Sophomore microbiology major Matt Luebbert was there once a few months ago. Although not aware of The Ram’s history as a bank he said, “It was a good place; I liked it. The staff was friendly.”

“We’re looking forward to making a few changes; we’re going to do some redecorating,” Young said. “The can collection’s probably going to go, and go toward a more sophisticated, trendy kind of a look, try to bring in the college kids and make them feel comfortable, but still keep it reasonably priced.”

One thing that won’t be leaving is the main relic that’s left over from the Ram’s time as a bank: the safe, which is still on display in the main dining room.

“I don’t think they could get that out. You probably could but you’d have to knock out a wall or something,” said Young.

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How do students balance studying for tests, going to class and doing homework and still have time to eat healthy and exercise? It may be hard to do, but many students at SDSU are taking important steps to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Joe Darrington, a senior majoring in agricultural engineering and pre-vet, said his lifestyle is healthy “most days.” Like many students at SDSU, he exercises regularly and makes sound meal choices, he said.

“For lunch today, I had some peanut butter sandwiches, an apple and some milk,” Darrington said. “Living off-campus I think it’s easier to eat healthy than it is on campus, because I always bring a sacked lunch.”

Many also find it easier to eat well while not on campus.

“If I am on campus sometimes I go to the vending machine if I need an extra snack ? and that’s not the best when I could go grab an apple at my house,” said Janni Anderson, a junior music education and physics major. “So yes, I guess it’s probably a little worse while school is in session.”

On the other hand, some students find it easier to maintain a balanced diet while in school.

“At school it’s easier, because at home my parents would buy snacks, and I would pig out on those,” said Micah Herrmann, a freshman undeclared major. “But here if I don’t buy it and forget, it’s a good thing.”

Herrmann said he stays fit by controlling what he eats and walking.

Another way students can stay in shape is by taking advantage of one of the school’s perks: the Wellness Center.

Since it opened in August 2008, the new site has received more than 260,000 visits. One positive thing about the Wellness Center is the great variety of options available, students said.

“There’s a lot to do,” Herrmann said.

“The Wellness Center here is much better than all the other gyms in town, ” Anderson said.

She enjoys lifting weights to stay healthy.

“I know (with) most girls, it’s not their preferred thing, but it’s nice to get a little muscle tone every now and then.”

Darrington enjoys going to the Wellness Center once or twice a week.

“I usually just lift weights and then go ride the bikes. I’ve been meaning to go to the pool, but I haven’t yet this year. ? I’ll do warm-ups around the track. It’s pretty nice,” he said.

One of the problems with exercising while in college is finding the time in a cramped schedule.

“Comparing it to high school, it’s a lot more difficult because you have more time commitments,” Darrington said.

Anderson also said that her lifestyle is healthier when not in school.

“During the summer and winter break I’m very healthy. I go to the gym three days, maybe four days a week. ? During the school year, no.”

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Mediacom Internet users will experience some changes this month. The company recently upgraded their Internet downloading speeds from eight mega-bits-per-second (Mbps) to 12 Mbps in response to consumers’ evolving tastes.

“We turned up the dial on the first week of September,” said Phyllis Peters, Communications Director for Mediacom’s North Central Division. “We continue to reinvest in the network and want to keep pace with what technology allows us to do.”

Peters said the reason for the change was to provide a faster option for customers who are using the Internet for a variety of purposes much more frequently than in the past.

So just how fast will these download speeds be? According to Mediacom’s Web site, www.mediacomcc.com, a 50-meg software file, which is about the size of an mp3 album, would take only 33 seconds to download with the new 12 Mbps service. This compares to the five minutes it would take with the most common DSL line, which is typically set at 1.5 Mbps, or the two hours it would take to download with dial-up.

Peters believes that the recent increase in download speeds will be beneficial to college students.

“I think college students, in part, depend on Internet downloads more than the average person,” Peters said.

Yet SDSU students seem to have mixed reviews when it comes to Mediacom’s latest changes.

Some students are not too enthusiastic about the increased speeds.

Lydia Placzet, a junior agricultural business major, said she has not noticed much of a difference in Mediacom’s Internet service over the past few weeks.

“I was here the last week of August and we had it hooked up, and I haven’t noticed much of a difference between that time and what it is currently,” she said. Placzet also expressed a desire for “more options” for Internet service.

Other students are excited about the new changes to Mediacom. Senior sociology major JoAnn Cressman is confident that increased speeds will help with her schoolwork.

“I download a lot of stuff so it’s helpful for me. I use it for school ?all the different programs we have to use,” she said. Cressman, who had Mediacom last year as well, has noticed “a little bit” of a difference in the speeds.

Customers need not worry about increased prices. Peters said that the recent upgraded speed will not cause an increase in prices.

“Between 2001 and 2005 we never took a price increase. While speeds were going ever upward, the line on price remained flat,” Peters said.

Although the price for Mediacom’s Internet service was raised this year, Peters said that this was due to the increased costs of new technology and upkeep of current systems and not related to any plans to increase the downloading speeds.

The current price for Mediacom Internet service is $62.95 when ordered alone, or $47.95 when purchased along with either cable or phone service.